A Quick Catch Up

I've actually been busy!  I have so many new projects under way I don't think I've stopped much lately! It's been bliss!! 

First up I will show you what I ended up with on the bottom of strata. 

I made the silk ammonites up separately and Paverpoled them.  Once they were set hard I could cut them out and use them freestanding. Keeping the black gold ones still keeps the visual weight needed but the silk lightens it up a bit.

So at least that's one thing finished for the Open Studios in May. 

I have also just to bind this wall quilt.  I blocked it last night ready for me to trim and find the right colour for the binding. 

You've seen parts of it in the blog as they've come together but this is the whole. No name yet either but it's on the tip of my tongue!

I have been experimenting with a few 3D pieces but they are still experimental and I have dug out some UFO's to try and complete, also for the Open Studios. On the showing front the 100 Cubed exhibition is coming up in 3 weeks and the small ammonite pieces are ready for that and I'm nearly ready with a snowdrop piece for the Shaftesbury Snowdrop Festival, only a little machine embroidery but it's helping towards the 'focus for a deadline' thing. I've also been asked to demo at the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta in April so I'd like to have something new for that.  

Thank you for all your comments on the last post.  There are still a few of you who are no reply bloggers, easiest way to check if you are is to go and leave a comment on your own blog to see if you have the email with the dread 'noreply-comment@blogger.com' email address come in!! (Just click to reply to yourself to see it in the address line.) It's an automatic setting if you are on Blogger so you have to change it. I suggest you do a search and find the method for your particular set up. Or perhaps you want to remain a no reply, that's fine too. 

As for the tracking of time on the Strata piece I know what some of you mean about the not ever getting your money's worth when you have to price these things.  They take far too long to create as a rule and no one ever wants to pay the true value of this. 
  
However I also think that it is my release, the thing that makes my heart sing and I enjoy doing. Some people spend a fortune playing golf and have nothing to show for it at the end but a score card or go to the cinema regularly and have memories of a film. We as creators have a product we can go on and sell should we wish, which I look at as a bonus, if someone feels they like my work enough to also want to own it, I am honoured.  I am in no way putting down the prices of my work, I charge what I feel they are worth to a fair market value but I do take into consideration that I'm not in it for commercial gain, I do it just to scratch the itch that is creating.  Good job too or we'd starve! 

Anyway I hope you all have a great weekend, I have plenty piling up to be getting on with.  I will leave you with a picture of Ellie and Tully enjoying the sun in the window.  

First Finish of the Year

I decided to keep tabs on the hours making this.  It has to be one of the most common questions asked, 'how long did it take', and I never truly know to be honest!   

Mind you it doesn't help that I'm a bit of a flitter never really staying with one particular piece in a single stretch.  

I had the Wrought Iron rod with ammonite finials made by Colleen Du Pon a Dorset blacksmith.

Isn't it lovely?

I'm quite pleased with how the parts merge.

The bottom part which has had a few airings on Facebook as it's grown.

I am toying with adding a few ammonites to the bottom edge to balance the ironwork at the top.  They're only dissolved paper again but visually they add weight. 

I will live with them pinned for a while.

Size it is 30 inches long with the fabric 11 inches wide and the hanger 15 inches.  In total it 38 hours plus Colleen's time on the ironwork.

The Closing of 2015

My word for the past year was Progress. I entered the year hoping to move forward with my work and try and find my inner voice. I don't think I have succeeded. I have decided I have had enough of doing courses to try and give myself a qualification I really don't need to prove to peers, well what exactly?  I don't do this for anyone else but my own satisfaction and to scratch that itch. You know what I mean.

I feel, as I did after finishing my City and Guilds in 2012, that if anything I'm being blocked from doing what I want or need to do by doing this course with the Embroiderers Guild. I have the Open Studios in May and I feel nowhere near ready because I have to do coursework. I've missed a couple of opportunities because I couldn't focus because of coursework. I have an exhibition with friends and, yes I know it's a long way off in 2017, but... You guessed it I can't even think of it because of coursework.

I only have three sessions left of this Level 2 and then I'm going to call it a day. I don't need to join an exhibiting group who want me to prove who I am, what I can do or where I am going, I just want to be me and do my pottering and enjoy what comes out the other end.

This year I'm going to slightly cheat and have two words for the year. Two very small words mind. 

Be Me. 

I'm going to just go ahead and create and you never know I may, one day, hear the voice.

Today is the last day of 2015 and the last day of the 31 Day Blogging Challenge, I can go back to weeklyish now.  Thank you for your company throughout the whole year, not just this past month, on here and on Facebook.  I wish you the very best in health, happiness and creativity for 2016. 

See you next year! XX 

Stitching Progress

On waking up this morning John told me I was under strict instructions to play in studio and not the computer. I think the ulterior motive was either to stop me moaning about the fact that I haven't been in there for some time or to keep Willow quiet while her leg heals. Probably a bit of both. I didn't say no so I've had a lovely day.

After a bit of a tidy up I did some more embellishing on the amonite piece,

A little bit of machining too

And then some hand stitching,

Even the paper amonites fitted in.

Very pleased with progress so far. It's quite a big piece at 11 X 30 inches at the moment.

Whilst stitching I started Ben Arronovich's fifth book Floxglove Summer. I'm really enjoying the series. I have to have the headphones on with the machine though.

Willow is doing well and totally ignoring her staples so she's not had the cone on at all.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 31 Days of Blogging and I haven't done too badly! I thank you for sticking with me and your comments too. Blogger seems to have sorted the email notifications out and I have been replying to them, you, directly.

I hope you are not being affected by Frank and are all safe and dry.

 

The Best Laid Schemes o' Mice an' Men

Or me to be precise. I had my Slimming World weigh in this morning and put 2 lb on over the Christmas period. Not bad really.  I will be working hard on making a downward trend from now on.

I was then going to spend time stitching at the machine but little Willow had a bit of a run in with some metal. So, trip to the vet and cone of Shame

And six staples

I'm sure she will be fine in no time but she won't leave my side and for her sanity, and the safety of everyone's knees I've taken up camp on the sofa instead.  Looks like a couple of films and some knitting instead. 

I will set her up under my desk in the morning and try again then. She should be more used to what's happened today by then. 

A Breath of Fresh Air

Today, rather than wallow through the mud and bringing plenty of it home, we decided to take the dogs down to Studland and Knoll Beach.  Lots of charging around in the lovely sunshine. 

Waiting for balls to be thrown.

And playing with your new sister who can actually keep up with you. 

They brought home sand and snores.

I hope this awful weather further north isn't affecting you. 

A Drop In Followers.

This was posted on the Blogger Buzz feed the other day which explains a drop in followers to Blogger accounts over the past couple of weeks. I've only lost three but it was still a bit strange!

An update on Google Friend Connect

Posted: December 21, 2015

  

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Well That Was Rather Fun

We've had a lovely Christmas. Lovely gifts, wonderful food and fabulous company of course. Yesterday went all too fast, not even time to blog, not that anyone is interested on Christmas Day!

Today we did have chance for some creativity in the studio.

But that's as far as its gone!
I hope you've had a nice Christmas too.

Tully, Ellie, Willow, me and Ruger

To Wish You Well

It's that time of year. 

Elsa, Mike, Olivia and Remi arrived for Christmas and things are feeling rather nice and cosy.  I've built several towers from building blocks, eaten too much already and have been sat on by three dogs at once. Olivia has put out her sack for Santa, she is adamant she's been a good girl so we are fingers crossed he agrees. 

Bath time for little ones and bad telly for the rest of us now. The fire is lit and all five dogs are sprawled. 

From all of us we hope you have a lovely Christmas just how you want to spend it. 

I Think We're Ready

Yesterday was spent out and about so actually nothing to blog about.

Today we got stuck into more cleaning! Even the dust had dust on it. It's not perfect, it's not a show home and I certainly don't Do housework as a rule! My forte is more in the department of making mess so I am lucky to have a lovely couple of ladies come in and Do for me. Did you know it's always good to look for OCD tendencies in a cleaner?? Unfortunately for me they are now off until the new year so we had the most of today vacuuming, dusting, moping etc. Oh and another two bags for the charity collection. So, we're there now, ready for guests tomorrow. As long as they don't look too hard!!

This afternoon I coloured the paper amonites. Of course you have to be careful doing this as its dissolvable paper and paint too wet returns it to pulp. A couple of coats and some gilding and they will do.

I'm thinking how I will put them on the piece, if I do at all. They really need to recede in as I want the silk ones to be the focals.
I did start stitching the main panel but literally only just.

I also gave the mannequin a very washed out layer of gesso over the paper pattern covering. I think I will put some wax on it to seal it but at least it's usable now and not missing a couple of large chunks!

I think tonight I earned a little tipple of something so I'm now off to, I think, start Christmas. I hope your all ready too.

A Big Finish!

After over 2 years in the planning and building we are finished. Today the electrician did all his tests, wrote up the boards and signed us off! 

We are done! The house is ours again!  

Between dodging cables, ladders and a few dust sheets I did manage to fill another couple of bags for the charity shop, which is pleasing. 

Creatively I put another layer on the embellished piece and now I'm knitting. No photos today.

Only ten more daily posts after this one!  Thank you for bearing with me. It's been an interesting journey making me think about what I'm planning to do each day. Still not sure if the little and often approach is better than a lot now and then though! 

Have you met Willow?

This is she doing, as John calls it, her best Claudia Winkleman impersonation.

She is the little girl we re homed back in September and she is quite the Ickle Pickle!!!  She often has several adventures a day.  Today's included taking out all my Finnish wool from it's bag and spreading it all over the house.

The other day she found one of my necklace mannequins, luckily without necklace, and decided to eat it.  I am in the process of trying to rescue it!

OK so it won't be as pretty as it was but I have a bit of a plan and for now it is gessoed and drying.

(Willow is a lovely dog and has the sweetest nature.  Her mischievous side has been a steep learning curve after having such well behaved dogs but she is very much worth the effort and, as we are her 5th owners in her 2 years of life, we are more than willing to give her a little slack. )

I also laid out another blanket base.

After embellishing so far.

It still has a long way to go until I'm happy with it but these things take a while before they are integrated.

I did do a little stitching on this one too having found it where it was buried under last weeks coursework.

A nice surface to stitch.  Now tonight do I carry on with a little stitching, do some knitting or carry on with the magazines?

Nothing to See, Move Along

Andy the builder said his goodbyes last night so today we have been pottering knowing that what we move and clean from A to B will stay clean at B without having to be moved again or have stuff put on it. If you've ever had a build you will know what I mean. 

I have stripped beds, hoovered and dusted, found clothes new homes and washed others. John has cleared the back yard and the garage which had been totally taken over, moved one of the cars back in, sorted all the decorating things and cleaned some carpets. If we keep this up there's a slim chance we could be ready for Elsa, Mike, Olivia and Remi to arrive this week coming for Chirstmas! 

During the odd tea break I did manage to put more dissolvable paper into my moulds. I remembered the demijohn warmer I have for silver clay drying and it has been great at drying them.  

Not sure what's in store for tomorrow but I wouldn't mind planning a bit of studio time in! 

A Few Ticks Off the List

Quite a busy day today. VAT quarter paperwork this morning and a mammogram at lunchtime. A bit of a contrast there.

After lunch I put fingers to keyboard and went through my notes to send off the latest section of my coursework before Christmas.

Glad that's gone but I'm sure my tutor won't let me rest on my laurels for long! I have told her the holiday period is for my own work and I will be doing the next session in the New Year.
I have another hanging on the fossil theme in mind. This is dissolvable paper in some latex mounds I made of a couple of my amonites.

At this time of year it's easy to dry things faster by putting them on the radiator but it's been so warm nothing is on to use! I don't think we've seen single figures yet apart from a couple of mornings. It's 5pm on December 18th and its 13C out there.

I did cook this gammon today too. They always have fabulous joints in this time of year and John is a little partial.

During this evenings TV watching I will be reading the latest book by Maggie Grey.

Blog Challenge Day 17

I couldn't think of an any more enthralling title today I'm afraid.

Actually not feeling too bad today! We have some vouchers to spend at Sainsburys so decided to brave it and actually go and spend them on the bulk of the stuff for Christmas first thing this morning. It was surprisingly sane which is probably more than it will be from this weekend.

As we usually do our shopping online with a different retailer it was quite a treat to have a pootle around. We also realised how dangerous it was seeing all the stuff we really do not need to buy and how easy it was to just pop them in the trolley! An awful lot was also put back.

One thing I will buy from Sainsburys when I'm passing though are their flowers. I haven't found another place that sells such lovely flowers for such a good price as them anywhere.

Builder was back today finishing off some bits and I did some accounts and actually had an hour or so in the studio doing coursework.